The Black Sweater
by Jolie en Rose
Summary: A black fleece sweater that held a million thoughts. Cold, crisp air that enveloped him in a fantasy. And a pair of square-toed boots that made his heart go wild. ToddxAlicia. Oneshot.


Disclaimer: I do not own the Clique.

Disclaimer: I do not own this story, this was written by my friend Darling Juju.

**The Block Estate****  
****Outside GLU Headquarters****  
****November 17th****  
****8:47 P.M.**

Hearing Massie Block screech inside, you beckon Tiny Nathan and lick your lips. Gossip is on the way.  
You wait and crouch behind the nearest plants, imagining that you are a ninja in a James Bond movie.  
"Shh...Pretending can wait," Tiny Nathan, your best friend hissed.  
You quietly compose yourself, eerily excited at how well Nathan can communicate with you. Drenched in anxious-sweat and freezing from the wrists down, you wrap the black fleece around yourself and wait.

"DEAN!" Someone shouts, their voice heavy and thick with the feel of tears.  
The phone murmurs something, and you hear someone let out a forlorn sob of despair. Your blue eyes dart back and forth as you wait for the mysterious caller to try again.  
"Dean!" She says, clearing her throat roughly and pausing momentarily.  
"Hey, it's Alicia Rivera," Tiny Nathan nudges you. "Massie's hot friend."

Your eyes narrow with disgust as you think about the amber-eyed temptress who shared your first smooch just weeks ago. Yet she denies every second of being with you.  
You've moved onto a new target-who just so happens to be about a yard away from you.  
"C'mon," you whack Tiny Nathan, who growls but creeps behind you, stealthy as a cat.  
"Pick up. Pick up. Pick-" She is pacing around, her brown eyes drenched in tears.

You absentmindedly clasp her mouth, and you feel her hot breath on your black glove as she silent-screams.  
"TAWD?" She screeches, then whips her inky black ponytail around quickly. She drops her voice to a soft, sultry whisper. "Tawd?"  
You shake your head, thinking about how your past love has brainwashed her minions to talk exactly like her.  
It's scary.  
"Shh...It's just me. And Tiny Nathan," you add hastily after receiving a dirty glare from your short best friend.  
"Oh," she says, looking you up and down.

You try to see yourself through her eyes-a short, skinny, freckled, redheaded loser who happens to be Claire's brother.  
She bites her full, glossed lower lip like she wants to laugh hysterically, then cries instead.  
Without thinking, you whip off your black Patagonia sweater and give it to her.  
"Why're you crying, Angel?" You ask sympathetically.  
"Thanks." She wipes her nose, leaving a stain behind.  
She looks appalled at herself and embarrassed. "Sorry."  
"No problem. I'll sell it to Nathan." You try to maintain an air of coolness.

Nathan snickers-he knows you'll sleep with the sweater every night and put it in your supposed shrine.  
"Massie's a bitch." You state, rocking back on your black Nikes nervously. "My sister cried-"  
"Doesn't she always?" Nathan cracks up softly, and Alicia even smiles.  
"Yes, but," you wave the thought of your whiny sister away like Nathan's gym socks, "Massie was much meaner to you."  
Alicia's curled up grin falls and she stares at the floor. Tears gather in her eyes.  
"W-W-Well," she says timidly, fingering the bottom of her girly cardigan.

To keep her from bursting out in tears, you pick up her perfectly-manicures hand and kiss it softly.  
Before pulling her hand away, she giggles, wiping the tears away from her beautiful brown eyes like they were from mascara.  
Then you feel a pang in your heart for this beautiful queen reduced to tears by the all-powerful 'Pretty Committee'.  
You speak your mind. "You should make the Unbelievably Pretty Committee." You burst in.  
Nathan punches your arm in a 'dude, you're embarrassing yourself' way, and you feel your cheeks flush.  
She beams at you, and you see her facial features soften.

You know that you have to charm her-now or never.  
"It's like you're Coke, you're C2." The drink you sipped at lunch pops into your mind.  
Although she seems momentarily confused, her perfect face splits into a toothy grin.  
"Would you let us hang out with you?" You feel shy and several years younger than her, even though she's only two years older than you.  
"Given!" She exclaims, the entrancing scent of Angel escaping onto you as she slaps you on the back.  
She gives a Tiny Nathan pat on the head, and he pretends to pout. But he can't.

You feel yourself confident, and suddenly, a horn bleated in the distance.  
"Bye," she seems anxious to go back to the limo, but you can't let her leave. Not now.  
"I love your boots!" You yell out in an attempt to say something.  
For some reason, her shoulders stiffen and she holds her face in her palms.  
"I love the square-toe. It's cool." You call out pathetically, and to your joy, she turns around, thanking you.  
As she waves to you both and glides into her shiny black limo, you stay in a fantasy of Angel.  
"You realize she kept your sweater." Tiny Nathan confirms.

"She can keep it." You feel dazed that the hottest girl at OCD has something of yours.  
"Whatever, I would've asked for it back," Nathan argues, shrugging.  
"She'll be mine one day." You state firmly, your eyes squeezing shut.  
"And I'll reach Level 26 on Halo one day." Nathan snickers.  
"Whatever," you sneak off, black sneakers crunching against the tacky gravel stones on the path to the guesthouse.  
You that one day, your darling Alicia will return to you.

And you keep telling this to yourself when she shows up at Massie's house during her freshman year with an eerily identical male strapped on her arm.  
"Who is this?" You try to feign your disgust with interest.  
Bubbly and excited, she giggles as she presents her Joshie to you. He grins from under a blue baseball cap.  
He clutches Alicia's arm as Massie opens the door.  
"Leave Tawd," Massie commands, and you dart off to the guesthouse.

There's no hope.  
No optimism.  
No love.  
No Alicia.


End file.
